I had something planned this Halloween, but it turned out to be a total bust. Something that was to be a simple two week project kept being delayed, and delayed. For three months, I scaled back the project as much as I could, taking it from a CYOA to a linear story - and still, my co-writer couldn't deliver.
That's when I came to realize I had relied on people too much. It's become a crutch. There are some definite advantages to working with someone, sure. To bounce ideas off of, for them to cover your weaknesses and you to cover theirs. I wouldn't have put out some of the stories I put out so far if not for them. Yet this last time... really put it into perspective for me. Especially if you make friends with them. You try to forgive and forget their faults. They could even go so far as to... I don't know, lie about how interested they are in the project and keep messing around on Discord - then they treat you like you're their teacher, as if you're school-marming them as they lie and lie over and over again about the reason they've delayed working on the project. Then you end up doing a majority of the project, as it turns out they did basically nothing and when they finally do add something, you still have to finish the scene because they got bored and wanted to share memes.
What's more, they were partially responsible for some of the ideas you disagreed with (scenes, characters, costumes), but okayed them just because you trusted their intentions.
As it turns out, that trust was misplaced -- as I think my trust of working with co-authors has come to be. Oh I can play the blame game and that it was just this one person, but no. It's my fault - so from here on out (except one or two projects still unfinished), there will be no more co-authors putting their fingers in my soup; and that's as nice as I can be about it.
Even a loose comparison to Asimov is a win in my book. Blog development for a choose your own adventure game and possibly other things.
